The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

Victor Erice's debut film, The Spirit of the Beehive is atmospheric masterpiece, and exercise in the cerebrally visual, with its eery cinematography (shot by a blind DP) and editing carrying the heft of the mostly dialogue-free film. It is more than alluded to that the Spain the film depicts is a bee-hive unto itself, with most of the settings tinted a amber yellow, and things such as windowpanes and Spanish shingles recalling the honeycomb of the hive. This could probably be viewed as a critique of fascist Spain, with Franco acting as the country's queen bee, all the workers laboring tirelessly to satiate her fat ass.

In the same vein as cineaste films such as Amarcord and Cinema Paradiso, Victor Erice's The Spirit of the Beehive charts the impact that one film, Frankenstein has on a young girl in immediate post-civil war Spain. When confronted with a situation far beyond her years, it is through the lens of this film which she is able to address her circumstances.

The real charm of The Spirit of the Beehive though is its recounting of the events that bear importance to children. There are these moments, that for some reason or another, stick out in our minds as important and unforgettable elements of our childhood, though if they were to occur in our adult lives, they would probably bear little meaning to us; things such as making shadow puppets on the wall, or a specific class lesson, or a particular film. This theme is beautifully embodied in a scene in which the young heroine extends her arm to an injured stranger, offering him what in her hands seems like a comically oversized apple. When the man reaches to accept it, we see that for him it is barely a snack. Simple beauty like this scene marks The Spirit of the Beehive, giving us much to watch, much to absorb, and even more to think about. B

Other semi-related thoughts:

-Important childhood memories for me: biking home in 3rd grade and being confronted by a squirrel with no eyes, crying when the pet dog was almost killed by the tunnel fire explosion in Independence Day

-The Spanish Civil War yielded one of the most iconic and expressive war photographs of the century, Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death

-What is honey exactly anyway? Just like, post-vomit pollen or something? Bears love that shit.